Rotary electric multi-switch with adjustable movable contact wiper



9, 1965 F. R. BECK 3,213,216

ROTARY ELECTRIC MULTI-SWITCH WITH ADJUSTABLE MOVABLE CONTACT WIPER Filed June 13, 1965 INVENTOR FREDERCK R. BECK fi dawu ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,213,216 ROTARY ELECTRIC MULTLSWITCH WITH Al)- .l'USTABLE MOVABLE CQNTACT WIPER Frederick R. Beck, Glen Ellyn, Ill., assignor to Controls Company of America, Melrose Park, IlL, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 13, 1963, Ser. No. 287,694 11 Claims. (Cl. 20036) This invention relates to timers and particularly to the assembly of printed circuit wipers, as used in a number of timers, to the rotating cam bank (or function or time base controller) to allow adjustment to insure proper orientation of the parts. Such adjustment in the past has been time consuming and, hence, costly. Furthermore, the past proposals could work out of adjustment over an extended period of use.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple, reliable construction permitting adjustment of the angular relationship between a printed circuit wiper and the rotative body carrying the wiper.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from, the specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of a timer constructed according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of the wipers assembled on the gear and is taken as indicated by line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of the printed circuit board and is taken on line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed cross-section on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the adjusting pin with the wiper removed;

FIG. 6 is comparable to FIG. 5 but has the pin removed;

FIG. 7 shows the reverse view of the pin;

FIG. 8 is a section, on an enlarged scale, on line 88 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 9 is a view taken on line 99 of FIG. 1.

Timers of the general type under consideration here are illustrated in much greater detail in Patents Nos. 3,033,999 and 3,089,994 which employ wipers running over a printed circuit to locate a desired position of the timer by means of a seeking circuit. The present invention may also be applied to timers using the so-called time base concept as shown in my application Serial No. 256,608, filed February 6, 1963. In these various timers there is the common feature of wipers rotating over a stationary printed circuit board to indicate a position or control a function dependent upon the angular position of the wipers. The wipers must be accurately related to the carrier or assembly on which they are mounted in order to achieve the desired results. I am here concerned with the adjustment of the wipers in the assembled environment so build-up of manufacturing tolerances may be obviated.

The drawings show a cam bank 10 including a number of cams 12 on an arbor 14 and designed to operate switches (not shown) in sequence to control the various functions of a machine such as a washing machine or dryer. Drive gear 16 is mounted on and connected to the arbor by means of the arbor lugs 18 engaging the notches in the ring 20 molded on the inside face of the gear. The gear may be driven by pinion 22, carried on shaft 24 piloted in frame 26, alone or in combination with a stepping mechanism (not shown) or by the stepper alone.

The frame carries a printed circuit board 28 on which "ice various conductive patterns are printed as, for example, shown in FIG. 3. These various circuit elements terminate in portions lying in circular paths to be wiped by wiper fingers 30 projecting from the wiper base 32 which is somewhat in the form of a quadrant. The wiper (the base and fingers) is fabricated of resilient, conductive material such as Phorphor bronze so the fingers may be biased or preloaded into engagement with the printed circuit board. The arcuate edge 34 is assembled to fit under the undercut pads 36, 36 on the outside face of the gear to thereby locate the edge against the gear face while allowing rotary movement of the wiper. The generally radial slot 38 is positioned so eccentric lug 40 projecting from pin 42 passes through the slot while the central hole in the wiper in pressed over the pilot stub 44 so the spring-like tabs 46 will engage (and bite into) the stub to retain the wiper against the gear face. When so assembled the wiper holds pin 42 in the cavity formed in the gear face. The pin is provided with a central fiatted adjusting post 48 which projects through the cooperating hole in the gear for access to adjust the rotary position of the pin. As the pin is rotated from the solid line position in FIG. 5 the eccentric lug will move left or right to the dotted line positions. Since the lug engages the slot 38 this will make the wiper move about the center of the gear and since the ends of the Wiper fingers 30 lie on a generally radial line this line is made to sweep through a number of degrees of are which, while small, is enough to adjust the angular relationship of the wiper to the cam bank. The pin will hold its adjusted position due to the provision of the mating serrated faces 50, 52 provided on the inside of the pin and on the bottom of the cavity, respectively. The serrations are held together by the wiper.

It is a simple matter to reach in between the gear and cam bank to turn post 48 to adjust the wiper. This can be done with no risk of affecting other parts and after the adjustment has been made the wiper will be held in its adjusted position. It will also be noted the resilient nature of the wiper allows the serrations to ride over each other during adjustment while providing the necessary force to hold them engaged.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a rotating member having an axis of rotation and a face normal thereto, an electric circuit element mounted on said face and being rotatable with respect to the member about said axis, means engaging the member and the element to move the element with respect to the member to adjust the angular relationship between the two and including means for retaining the adjusted position of the element.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the engaging means is physically positioned between the rotating member and the circuit element and is retained by the circuit element.

3. In combination, a member rotatable about an axis, an electric circuit member movable with and with respect to the rotatable member about said axis, means engaging both members to adjustably move the circuit member about the axis relative to the rotatable member, and means cooperating between the engaging means and one of the members to hold the engaging means in an adjusted position.

4. The combination of claim 3 in which the circuit member is mounted flat against a surface of the rotatable 0 member which is normal to said axis, the engaging means is mounted in said surface in assembled position with the circuit member in overlying relationship.

5. The combination of claim 4 in which the engaging means comprises a rotatable pin recessed in said surface and having a manually actuatable portion projecting through the rotatable member and an eccentric actuating portion projecting in the opposite direction and a slot in the circuit member receiving the actuating portion.

6. The combination of claim 5 including serrated fac ing surfaces on the pin and rotatable member to hold the pin in its adjusted position.

7. The combination of claim 6 in which the circuit member is resilient and holds the serrated surfaces in eng'agement.

8. In a timing device, a rotatable controller including means for sequentially operating control devices, a frame including printed circuit elements arranged in a circular path for sequential engagement, a Wiper assembly mounted on the controller for rotation therewith to sequentially engage the printed circuit elements, the mounting of the assembly permitting rotation of the assembly with respect to the controller about the axis of rotation of the controller, and manually operable means engaging the assembly to adjust its position relative to the controller.

9. A device according to claim 8 in which the controller includes a flat member upon which the wiper assembly is mounted, said manual means including a pin mounted in a cavity in the flat member and having a manually operable portion projecting through the member for access on the side of the member opposite the wiper assembly, the wiper assembly overlying the pin to retain it in the cavity and having a slot therein, an eccentric lug on the pin passing through the slot.

10. A device according to claim 9 in which the bottom of the cavity and the facing part of the pin are serrated to hold the pin in adjusted position.

11. A device according to claim 10 in which the flat member includes a shaft and the wiper assembly includes a portion rotatably mounted on the shaft whereby the angular relationship between the assembly and the member is adjusted when the pin is rotated.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,453,106 11/48 Y-ardeny et al 200-25 X 2,896,033 7/59 Hartz ZOO-l1 3,033,999 5/62 Thornbery et a1 307-l4l .4 3,098,129 7/63 Lynch et al 20024 X BERNARD A. GILHEANY, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A ROTATING MEMBER HAVING AN AXIS OF ROTATION AND A FACE NORMAL THERETO, AN ELECTRIC CIRCUIT ELEMENT MOUNTED ON SAID FACE AND BEING ROTATABLE WITH RESPECT TO THE MEMBER ABOUT SAID AXIS, MEANS ENGAGING THE MEMBER AND THE ELEMENT TO MOVE THE ELEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE MEMBER TO ADJUST THE ANGULAR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO AND INCLUDING MEANS FOR RETAINING THE ADJUSTED POSITION OF THE ELEMENT. 